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After every Mets loss, as I am sure it now applies to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Chicago and of course in Miami and Houston, the talk always heats up about what veteran players could be traded before the July 31st trading deadline. The ones leading the conversation, usually a beat writer or outspoken fans on twitter, make this out to be the greatest thing in the world. If you listen to the talk, you would think the Mets can build the championship team for the next ten years just with players they can get for trading Marlon Byrd, Shawn Marcum, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell and John Buck.
“Hurry up and trade Marlon Byrd, cause he is gonna net you a gem!” Stop it already. If you do not already know the Mets are getting nothing useful in return, you are completely delusional. I know the local blogs will break down who these A ball players are and what position they play, but I promise you if they ever make the major leagues, it will be for an at bat or a game pitched or two, and that is it. I lot of fans are still high off the Zack Wheeler trade of a couple years ago. Trust me, the Mets will not get a useful player back for anybody they dump this year.
I understand where the “TRAIDs” come from. Fans get pissed off when there team is not in a position to win. They feel all warm and fuzzy inside, as they have no interest in even knowing who the player is they get back. It has to be good, right? I mean the team you root for gave up a player that would probably not be on the team next year anyways. And… you got something!? in return. Lets face it my friends, that something could come in the form of something not human and you would not care.
Outside of getting Wheeler for Carlos Beltran, lets look at some trades done just to dump a player. Actually, let me name a series of players traded by the Mets and you tell me who the Mets got in return. Bobby Bonilla was “dumped” to the Baltimore Orioles in 1995. During the 2003 season, the Mets made several “dumps.” Players like Roberto Alomar, Jeremy Burnitz, Armando Benitez, Rey Sanchez and Graeme Lloyd were all traded. Even though most knowledgeable Mets fans know some of the players that were acquired in return, we all can agree they received little in return that would be part of the team going forward. For the record, the Mets received Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa for Bonilla, Royce Ring for Alomar, Victor Diaz for Burnitz, Kenny Kelly for Sanchez and Jeremy Hill for Lloyd. What is there left to say?
I understand that teams make deals like this. My question is, why is a fan so excited to see a team trade a veteran player for little to nothing in return? I get the fact that potential exists for a younger player to get more of a chance to play. But what does that fan have to say when a player on their team was simply given away. Given away to a team that has a chance to make the postseason. So while you say in your bitterness, “Thank god we got rid of that guy”, he’ll be laughing at you all the way to the playoffs while your team is playing out the stretch in September. And I am sure if you asked the before mentioned players, they would probably laugh when they are reminded of what little they were traded for.
These deals do not improve rebuilding teams. In fact, a trade of a guy like Parnell or even Gee could hurt the Mets down the road. I wouldn’t mind seeing anybody traded, but for fringe guys another team does not want does nothing for the Mets. Parnell in particular, could be part of a package that nets a regular player. Why “dump” him for a couple of future castoffs?
But there are still fans who are ticked off the Mets got “nothing” for Jose Reyes. It is a shame they did not pull that trigger on that Reyes for Paul Janish and Nick Masset trade. And who is not going to regret not flipping Scott Hairston to San Francisco for Brett Pill? I hope you can read into my sarcasm. For my buddies who are still bitter over losing Reyes to free agency, perhaps you can look into the draft and see who the Mets took with the two picks they were awarded for losing Reyes. Not only Kevin Plawecki, who could very well be the Mets starting catcher in 2015, but also Matt Reynolds, a shortstop who we saw this spring get a couple hits in key spots. But I will wait until both players are closer to the big leagues before I write that article.
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